Eric Brady
Eric Roman Brady II '''is a fictional character on the American NBC daytime soap opera[[ Days of our Lives| '''Days of our Lives]]. portrayed by Greg Vaughan since 2012. Created by head writers, Margaret DePriest, Sheri Anderson and Thom Racina, Eric is the only son of supercouple, Roman Brady and Marlena Evans. Introduced onscreen by Betty Corday and Al Rabin in 1984 along with his twin sister, Sami Brady, the twins were rapidly aged, and Jensen Ackles stepped into the role of the teenage Eric in 1997. Eric's saintly behavior immediately sets him up as the better half to his very troubled sister Sami. Eric falls in love with Nicole Walker; however the relationship ends in heart break which leads to Eric's departure. In 2012, Vaughan stepped into the role and the character is re-introduced as a priest. He also reconnects with a now reformed Nicole and even works with his mother's longtime rival Kristen DiMera to help establish a new school in Salem. The dynamic leads to a constant struggle between Eric and Nicole, as both still seem to have strong feelings for one another. Crimes and Misdeeds * Committed adultery with Nicole Walker (when she was married to Lucas Roberts Horton) Health and Vitals * Drugged and raped by Kristen DiMera (July 2013) Character History Eric Brady was one of twins born to Roman and Marlena Brady. He and his sister were extremely close as children, and were sent together to Colorado shortly after starting school. Although Sami returned to Salem during high-school, Eric was well out of school by the time he finally came home, when John and Marlena became officially involved because Eric believed that his parents (Roman and Marlena) belonged together. He also believed that his amnesiac sister Sami was faking her memory loss. With Carrie and Mike, Eric tried to find out what Sami's big secret was, and on the day that Sami was set to marry Austin, they realized that Will could not possibly be Austin's son, and that Sami knew. Carrie rushed to the Church to stop the wedding and to humiliate her sister. Although Eric felt horribly guilty for the role he had played in his sister's pain, Sami soon forgave him, because she realized he didn't do it to hurt her. Not long after, Eric realized that someone was following him everywhere. It turned out to be an old schoolmate, Jed Fox. Eric had initially been accused of date rape when Jed was really the rapist, and lost his position in school as a result. Jed threatened to kill Sami if Eric didn't say it was really him, but Eric was able to convince Jed to accept his crimes and move on. Shortly thereafter, he met Nicole Walker, a waitress at the Java Café. When he started working at Countess Wilhelmina as a photographer, he thought she would make the perfect model. The two became romantically entangled, although their relationship was strained when Nicole's past started cropping up. When Eric had to focus all his attentions on Sami's upcoming trial for murdering Franco Kelly, Nicole got involved with Lucas, and Eric got involved with an older woman, Greta Von Amberg. Nicole and Eric were finished when Eric learned that Nicole had married Lucas Roberts. Eric was then free to focus all of his concerns on Sami's trial. Sami had escaped and gone on the run, but after being recaptured by the police, she was sent back to prison to await lethal injection. Just as the injections were being given (as a shocked Eric looked on), Lucas burst in to take the blame, but later recanted when Roberto Barelli also confessed. Although Greta and Eric were spending a lot of time together, he couldn't keep Nicole out of his mind. He began sleeping with her again, and when Greta realized Eric still loved her, she broke things off. After having a near-fatal accident at a railway crossing and a heavenly trial with Isabella Toscano Black as his counsel, Eric decided to leave Salem. Before he left though, he told Nicole he would always love her. Since leaving, Eric sent a letter to town when Roman was presumed dead (Roman was later found alive) remembering some of the good times. Marlena and Sami also made several trips to Colorado to visit Eric. In November 2012, Nicole Walker thought that she saw Eric jogging through Salem. She later saw him in the Brady Pub and was shocked to see that he was wearing a priest collar. It turned out that Eric had returned to join the priests at St. Luke's in Salem. Eric and Nicole began to talk. He listened to Nicole's sordid tale of the past few months and encouraged her to seek forgiveness from those who she had wronged. When Nicole took Eric's advice, he started to see that she wanted to change. Eric offered Nicole a job as a secretary at the church and a place to stay in the convent. Nicole agreed and started her life over. She also became a confidant for Eric, who was living with his own demons of violent acts he'd witnessed while working as a photographer in the Congo. Opening up to Nicole helped Eric start to heal. He began sleeping through the night, rather than waking up from nightmares. He thanked Nicole by giving her one of the photos he took in Africa. The two continued to work closely together on the new school, St. Luke's Academy. Eventually, Eric grew stronger feelings for Nicole. He admitted to Father Matt that he loved her as a friend and was upset to hear of various relationships that Nicole had with other men. But he would not take their relationship further. Still, Nicole's feelings grew. Meanwhile, Eric tried to play peacemaker in his family when his step-brother, Brady, began dating Kristen DiMera. Kristen had terrorized John and Marlena for years and Marlena was certain that Kristen was doing it again. In light of their scandalous relationship, Eric asked Brady and Kristen to resign from the church council. When Brady and Kristen's relationship ended (due Marlena exposing Kristen's lies), Kristen blamed Marlena and set out for revenge. When Eric went out of town on business for the new school, Kristen followed him. She snuck into his room, shot him with a memory-erasing drug-filled dart, lured him into bed, and raped him. She video taped their sexual encounter. Nicole, rushing to bring Eric some notes that he forgot, found Eric unconscious in his hotel room. She called an ambulance and took Eric to the hospital. Daniel Jonas treated Eric and was convinced that Eric's illness was the result of a poison. Eric made a quick recovery, which increased Daniel's suspicion. But Eric was so focused on the new school that he didn't want to bother with tests at first. But, when Eric experienced side effects from the drug -- fainting, headaches -- he agreed to let Daniel run the tests. The test yielded no results, so Daniel hired a private investigator to look at the evidence. However, when Kristen heard about the investigation and was able to disguise herself, start a conversation with the detective, and then spill coffee all over his evidence and destroying everything. Eric was starting to remember what happened the night he was drugged. Though, he couldn't differentiate between dreams and reality. He spoke to Father Matt about it. In turn, Father Matt went to Nicole and asked her to help convince Eric not to dwell on what happened to him that night, but to focus on the future. She agreed. Meanwhile, Nicole's feelings for Eric were growing so much that Brady finally noticed and confronted Nicole about them. Nicole admitted that she was in love with Eric but he could never know. Brady urged Nicole to talk to Eric about it, but she was too embarrassed. Instead, she decided to take a new job with Titan TV to get away from seeing Eric everyday. Eric was stunned when she told him that she was leaving and tried to convince her to stay. But she was adamant. She was also not pleased with Eric for agreeing to marry Brady and Kristen, as she knew that Kristen was trouble. Eric noted the tension between himself and Nicole, but thought it was because he had agreed to go through Pre-Cana counseling with Kristen and Brady. He was also realizing that his dreams were actually memories. He knew he had been raped, but could only remember it being a blonde woman. He spoke with the hotel clerk who told him that there was a woman in the lobby that night who insisted on getting the room right next to him. When the clerk told Eric that the woman's name was Fay Taylor, Eric was scared that Nicole was the one who raped him. When he heard Brady confronting Nicole again about her feelings for Eric, he was sure that Nicole drugged and raped him. Eric confronted Nicole with what he'd overheard. Nicole admitted that she was in love with him. Then, he accused her of drugging and raping him. He told her all of the circumstantial evidence. She denied it. But, he was certain. He told her that he'd never forgive her. Heartbroken, Nicole reached out to Daniel, who believed her that she didn't rape Eric. But Eric was still sure. On the day of Brady and Kristen's wedding, with Eric officiating, Victor had managed to get a hold of the tape Kristen made and played it at the wedding. Everyone was horrified and Kristen fled Salem. In addition to working through the crime, Eric knew that he'd also have to find and apologize to Nicole. Hope opened in investigation into Kristen's story that the sex was consensual. One of her first acts was to question Nicole as a potential witness. As soon as Nicole found out about the video she went looking for Kristen. She found her trying to flee Salem and drive after her. Their cars got into an accident. Nicole was not badly injured. While her car was totaled, Kristen was nowhere to be found. Nicole went back to the police station to give her statement about the accident. Eric found Nicole there and tried to apologize. Nicole told him that she was devastated about what Kristen did to him. But, she could not forgive him for accusing her and not believing her when she plead her innocence. Back at St. Luke's, the bishop had seen the video as well and opened an investigation into Eric's actions. Eric was suspended indefinitely and relieved of all his duties at the church. Eric also moved into one of the rooms above the Brady Pub. Meanwhile, Nicole's first assignment as a reporter was to cover the "sex scandal" at St. Luke's. She was reluctant to do the story, but her boss gave her no choice. Daniel was also still determined to prove that Eric was drugged. So, he talked Eric into undergoing a painful test, where he would be given another drug that would attack the masking agent in hopes of revealing the drug that Kristen used on Eric. Daniel convinced Nicole to help and do the story to tell the truth -- that Kristen drugged Eric. Nicole agreed. But, Nicole still had to put her feelings for Eric behind her. To do so, she told Eric that she and Daniel had reconnected and were dating again. Much to Eric's shock, the news upset him. He confessed to Father Matt that he did indeed have more than friendship feelings for Nicole. But, he lamented that she no longer returned his feelings. So, he needed to focus on clearing his name and rejoining the priesthood. Father Matt suggested that everyone would understand if he wanted to find a different way to serve the church. Eric was torn on what to do. But he knew that he wanted to clear his name, even if that meant he didn't return to the priesthood. Daniel ran a series of tests on Eric and found that there were traces of a masking agent in his blood. Working backwards, Daniel set about trying to find the limited few doctors in the country who worked with this specific drug. One of them was the doctor Kristen used, Dr. Chyka. When Stefano learned that Daniel and Nicole were snooping into Chyka, he sent Chyka to "take care" of the problem. Chyka was able to erase all of Daniel's files and flee Salem. But, Daniel and Nicole weren't ready to give up. Using Nicole's connections at Titan TV, they were able to track the location of Chyka's safe house. They went there and held Chyka at gun point to get him to talk. When he refused, Daniel injected him with truth serum. He finally confessed to working for Kristen and supplying her with the drugs. Just then another DiMera henchmen arrived at the safe house. Daniel managed to knock him out, but knew that he needed to get the man out of the house. So, Daniel drove the henchmen in the henchmen's car to a train station and left him there. Then, he took the train back to Salem where Nicole was to meet him with the proof. But, Chyka was able to overpower Nicole and escape. However, before he left, he gave Nicole the combination to a safe in the safe house that contained all of the documents and emails between Kristen and Chyka. Nicole knew that all of the documents would allow Eric to return to the priesthood. She was thrilled with their success. While Nicole and Daniel were chasing down Chyka, Eric went on a retreat with Brother Timothy to talk through his growing feelings for Nicole and his anger about what Kristen did to him. Eric returned from his retreat and went straight to see Nicole. He told her that he loved her. And that it didn't matter to him if he never cleared his name. When Nicole heard that, she couldn't bring herself to show Eric the documents. So, she shredded them and threw them away. Eric and Nicole began dating and eventually became engaged. Nicole was very happy. But Nicole's lie was going to catch up with her. One day, Daniel was drugged at work. Nicole had run into Liam Fraizer in the hallway of Daniel's apartment on the morning of the drugging. She didn't believe his lie about visiting another doctor in the building. But, when she confronted Liam about it, Liam revealed that he had blackmail information on Nicole. He had seen her disposing of the shredded paper and took them. Thus, knew that she was sitting on the proof that Eric could return to the priesthood if he wanted. Frustrated, Nicole did everything she could short of ratting on Liam to Daniel. Eventually, things came to a head with Liam when he took Nicole and Jennifer hostage on Smith Island. Luckily, Daniel came to their rescue. Liam was killed in the struggle. A few days later, Jennifer realized that she'd lost the necklace Daniel gave her during the struggle. The two of them went back to Smith Island to look for it. However, Daniel found some mysterious looking paperwork in the woods. He'd recognized it because he saw Nicole with the same shredded-and-put-back-together paperwork a few weeks earlier. He confronted Nicole with the paperwork. He knew it was the proof because he'd seen it in her hotel room earlier and she'd explained it away as a hoax from Stefano. This time, Nicole couldn't talk herself out of it. Daniel told Nicole to tell Eric, or he would. Nicole didn't tell Eric the truth. Instead, she told Eric that they needed to elope because Daniel was in love with her. Eric was shocked, but agreed. They made plans to leave town. When Daniel heard this, he went to Nicole's hotel room to confront her again. However, Jennifer was standing outside the room and heard the whole story. She ran right to Eric and told him everything. Eric dumped Nicole and told her that he would never forgive her. With the proof now resurfaced, the Vatican agreed to hear Eric's case about being reinstated to the priesthood. Nicole even travelled to Rome to testify that she'd kept the proof from Eric for selfish reasons. Moved by her testimony and the proof, the bishop offered Eric admission back into the priesthood. But, still troubled by his inability to forgive Nicole, Eric turned it down. He returned to Salem and worked as a photographer for the PR department at University Hospital. He spent months fighting with Nicole, who kept pleasing with him to try to forgive her. But he couldn't. He finally found a distraction when his ex-girlfriend, Serena Mason, came to Salem in the winter of 2014 to do medical research from a story that she was working on. Eric and Serena met in Africa, while she was there on a story assignment. They fell in love. But, when Eric felt drawn to the priesthood, Serena did not stand in his way. However, as soon as she heard that Eric had left the priesthood, she wanted to see if there was another chance for them. Eric was happy to see her when she arrived in Salem. Category:Days of our lives characters Category:Brady family